Batesburg-Leesville, SC - It’s been nearly a month since Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School made Lexington School District Three history by snagging the title of Palmetto’s Finest, but the celebrations for staff and students are far from being over.
On Tuesday, April 10th, B-L Elementary School staff members were honored at a special reception that was held in the school’s Media Center. The event was sponsored and catered by Wiz’s Eatery and was attended by numerous community leaders including Rep. Cal Forrest and B-L Mayor Lancer Shull. In addition, staff members were recognized that same evening during the Lexington County School District Three Board of Trustees meeting. Superintendent Dr. Randall Gary commended the staff for their exceptional work and praised the leadership efforts of BLES Principal Jaime Hembree and Assistant Principal Matt Velasquez.
More celebrations are planned in the coming weeks as well. On April 30th, staff and students will get to enjoy an ice cream social courtesy of Rep. Cal Forrest and Sen. Katrina Shealy.Then, on May 1st, Machelle Powell, owner of Boutique 527 and Rush Bridal Company in Leesville, is sponsoring a “coffee break” for the BLES staff. The iCrave Café truck will come to the school that day so that faculty members can enjoy a delicious cup of coffee. District administrators will be at the school during this time to aid in the instruction of students. On the evening of May 1st, the BLES faculty will also be honored at a special celebration held at T&S Farm. This event is being sponsored by Thompson Turner Construction and Jumper Carter Sease Architects. In addition to all of this, the Poultry Festival Steering Committee has named the B-L Elementary School staff as “Hometown Heroes” and has extended an invitation for them to attend the pre-festival banquet.
Lexington County School District Three is extremely grateful for the many community groups, businesses and individuals who continuously support our schools. This includes House of Raeford Farms (who generously provided a billboard on East Church Street in Leesville in honor of B-L Elementary School’s Palmetto’s Finest win) and Hershey’s (who provided celebratory ice cream for staff and students in the immediate days that followed the big announcement).